Stolen Licorice Kisses
by gwebn
Summary: Hanni works in a candy store and Emil is a frequent customer. This was a request from an anon. Thank you for the request! If you have a fanfic request, please send me a message at teakroses(.)tumblr(.)com. I'm always happy to write them.


Hannelore's brother didn't like having bells on the door to their shop. "They're annoying and abrasive and i don't need them in my shop, okay?" he told her when he finally pried them off the door frame with a hammer and a flat head screwdriver. In it's place, Vash put a tiny set of wind chimes that sang like high notes on a xylophone whenever a customer came in.

The chimes were always the first thing Emil heard when he came to Vash and Hanni's candy shop. He agreed with Vash. The gentle chimes seemed right among the bright jars full of candies, the soft pink carpeting, and the boxes and bags of domestic chocolates and international sweets.

"Emil!" She greeted him from behind the counter, giving him a pink lipgloss smile."You're back again already. Does your family not have holes in their tongue from eating all that licorice at once?"

"Somehow, no." Emil shrugged. He will be the first to admit that he probably visited more than the average customer. His family went through (his) salted licorice like water and Zwingli's was a place that had it. "I think Berwald might have an ulcer but that's probably just from Mikkel."

"Brothers." She said with an amused little chuckle. "We have a couple cases of salmiakki in the back room… Will you help me carry them out?"

"It- uh- must be more than a couple if you need help with them." Emil replied, tugging at the end of his sleeve. "I guess I can help."

"Hanni, I can get them." Vash, who was refilling a display of gum balls on the other side of the store, cut in.

"No, it's okay. He said he will help." She said waving him off. "You can finish what you're doing."

Vash grumbled a "fine" and then something about needing to hire more people. Hanni knew he wasn't going to hire anyone else. The last guy they hired was was this piano playing divorcee who refused to lift a finger to do anything. Since then, Vash refuses to trust anyone outside the family with their business.

"We'll only be a minute." Hanni said, leading Emil to the stock room. The room was lit with bare lightbulbs that only shown bright enough that you could read the labels on the neatly stacked boxes. Emil wondered if there was some kind of cooling system installed because the room was always several degrees cooler than the store it belongs to. The chilled air smelled like cardboard and chocolate.

"Do you think he's catching on?" Hanni giggled when she shut the door behind them.

"Nah." Emil replied with a smile. "I think he just thinks I eat a lot of licorice."

"He's not wrong." She said, putting her arms around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. "You do eat a lot of licorice."

"Enough that you need two people to carry it all out?" He said, wrapping his arms around her waist to return the favor. He was pleasantly surprised to find that her lipgloss was strawberry flavored today. "That might be exaggerating."

"I'm not exaggerating." She laughed. "You're starting to taste like licorice."

"I do not." Emil huffed. There's no way he eats _that_ much…

"You do too." She frowned, suddenly determined. "I'll prove it."

Before he could say anything, Hanni pulled him down for another kiss. She held him there, her sticky strawberry lips on his bare chapped mouth and her fingers in his messy hair. Emil froze momentarily then relaxed. They've been doing this for two weeks and he's still not used to this part of Hanni, the side of her that stole kisses, the side that suggested he come "visit" during work, the side that made his heart pound and his palms sweat. It was dizzying and confusing and he loved every second of it. Emil closed his eyes and let himself get lost in her embrace.

Gently, Hanni pulled away. She giggled nervously, looking almost as pink in the face as he felt.

"I- uh-" Emil swallowed, "Wow."

"Wow is right." She replied, covering her face with her hands. "I was right, you do taste like licorice."

"Seriously?" He asked.

"No, I'm kidding." She admitted, still covering her face. "I just wanted an excuse to kiss you."

"You really don't need an excuse to do that." He said gently, kissing the back of her hand. "I'm just saying."

"Aw." She said, lowering her hands. "We should get out of here before Vash comes in to check on us."

"You're right." Emil said, letting go of her waist. "But we should tell him soon. I'm considering a second job to pay for all this candy."


End file.
